Isometric or static muscle exertion has been shown to provide useful exercise and improvement in muscle tone. Most people find that exercise programs are difficult to implement because of time constraints, laziness or apathy. Improvement in overall muscle tone contributes to the general well being, but exercise of specific muscle groups can also rectify chronic aliments. More specifically, exercise to the abdominal muscle group can alleviate chronic lower back pain.
One type of abdominal muscle exercise device includes a belt connected in series with a spring means and counter which is connected around the girth or waistline of the wearer. A spring means resists the expansion of abdominal muscles and the counter records the total number of sequential muscular expansions made during an exercise period. The belt is to be worn during exercise so that periodic muscular efforts will compress the spring which will increment the counter. Such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,185 issued on Oct. 11, 1966 in the name of Joseph L. Bidopia which discloses a belt exercise device which is a mechanical device having a belt connected in series with a control box having a biasing spring for compressing and incrementing a counter when the abdominal muscles are expanded and contracted. This type of device is strictly used for exercising the abdominal muscles during an exercise period for a predetermined number of times as indicated on the counter.